At that point, he had not yet spoken to his family in Hailey, Idaho, where a big homecoming celebration was canceled amid a firestorm over the circumstances of his disappearance and debate over the prisoner exchange that won his release.

The trade has been attacked by members of Congress who are outraged that they were not told ahead of time, and by those who say the five Taliban detainees transferred out of Guantanamo Bay to Qatar were too dangerous to free.